The following relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically to Wi-Fi peer-to-peer (P2P) services. Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be wireless local area network (WLAN), also known as Wi-Fi systems which utilize carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) mechanisms to access a wireless medium. These systems may also be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code-division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time-division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) systems.
Generally, a peer-to-peer (P2P) network allows wireless devices to directly communicate with each other. Devices within range of each other may discover and communicate directly without involving central access points. Services may be provided from one device to another via Wi-Fi P2P connections.
Current Wi-Fi P2P implementations involve discovering other devices using a probe. The probe is a packet that generally includes an identification of the device sending the probe and information regarding the Wi-Fi P2P capabilities of the device sending the probe. The device that transmits the probe may be referred to as a seeker. The device(s) that provide services may be referred to as advertisers or offerers. The seeker broadcasts a probe (unaddressed) to devices, e.g., advertisers, within range of the broadcast receive the probe. Each of the advertisers sends a probe response to the seeker using the identification of the seeker included in the probe (addressed). Each probe response includes an identification of the device sending the probe response and information regarding the Wi-Fi P2P capabilities of the device sending the probe response.
Upon receiving the probe responses, the seeker is then required to sort through the responses (results of the discovery search) to find valid matches for the Wi-Fi P2P capabilities of the seeker. This may be accomplished by the seeker displaying a list of advertisers for a user to sort through. Further, the sorting may involve sending a directed (addressed) query to each individual advertiser from which the seeker received a probe response. When the seeker is looking for specific services from another device via Wi-Fi P2P communication, the seeker may send a query to individual devices that responded to the discovery probe. The query may be a service search request. Each advertiser that receives the query may respond to inform the seeker of the specific service(s) that the respective advertiser is capable of providing. Querying each discovered advertiser, however, consumes time and resources.